A new year is usually the best time to carry out an overhaul and/or an assessment on everything you have going on in business.

In the midst of designing my goals and projections for the year, I brainstormed some of the key variables to this year's success and decided to create a post about how these words can forecast marketing and the economy this year.

Productize: To me, everything can be automated - or at least simplified to a form that calls for less time and effort. In a business, this is called maximizing profit by optimizing one's time. This also allows a business to generate revenue without manual labor being necessary in real-time. Most certainly, almost anything can become a product, and if you are able to automatically sell your value even after hours, you have created an advantageous situation for yourself.

Gamify: It's hard enough to keep a new user/customer's attention for a few minutes, let alone get them to commit to coming back again and again to use your product and/or application. Outside of the product itself, can more value be created for the buyer? The more fun and interactive you make an experience, the more it will be both utilized and shared throughout social graphs.

Incentivize: The hundreds of thousands of businesses that have hustled to adopt a Facebook page are starting to realize that, with the exception of a like or two every other day, they are essentially on their own deserted island. No one is listening to what they have to say. It's not that no one cares (well, sort of), but rather that people are inherently greedy. You won't be able to create any social media waves without some sort of value in tact. The more you can incent a follower to engage with you, the more your efforts will pay off in the end.